Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the impact of staff attitudes on students' satisfaction at Kampala Campus of Islamic University in Uganda, focusing on academic, non-academic, and overall satisfaction levels. The study used a causal-comparative research design and quantitative approach, with 315 students from the Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus, selected using simple random sampling and proportionate-to-size techniques. The study utilized structured questionnaires for data collection, followed by simple linear regression analysis to analyze the impact of independent variables on the dependent variable. The study found that academic staff attitude moderately positively impacts students' satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus, while non-academic staff attitude has a weak positive effect. The study revealed that university students are satisfied with various aspects, including communication, support, and handling of concerns, treatment, administrative staff response, and timely resolution. The study suggests that staff attitude, both academic and non-academic, significantly impacts students' satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus. The study suggests that Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus should implement various training techniques and strategies to improve academic staff performance and student satisfaction. It also suggests enhancing the motivation and social capabilities of non-academic staff through mentorship and orientation programs. The university should also ensure high levels of student satisfaction with staff attitude, student services, and academic support services.

1. Introduction

Higher education institutions must meet the needs and requirements of their target audience in addition to those of other stakeholders. But the needs of the pupils must always come first. As a result, it's critical to fulfill customer expectations in areas like service provision ¹. Prior to 1996, not much research had been done on customer satisfaction. First off, discussions of satisfaction were primarily HR-focused or related to human resources management (e.g. job satisfaction). Second, pre-consumption behaviors and their influence on satisfaction were the main focus of consumer satisfaction research ².

A short-term mindset that emerges from an assessment of students' educational experiences, services, and facilities is known as student contentment ³. The concept of student happiness is founded on the emotions that arise from assessing the resources, services, and learning environments that students come across during their academic journey ³. The relationship between the perceived performance of educational services offered by higher education institutions and the relative quality of experiences has been modeled as a function of student happiness ⁴.

An increasing amount of focus has been placed on student satisfaction in this cutthroat educational setting. The topic has drawn a lot of attention from researchers in recent decades because of its significant influence on the enrollment of potential students and the success of educational institutions, particularly in service-oriented economies. Many conceptualizations and discussions about what student satisfaction is and how it is measured using widely accepted models have emerged from the wealth of research on the subject.

Despite variations in schooling, student satisfaction remained largely consistent throughout European nations. The factors that have the biggest effects on student satisfaction include interactions with other students, course material, instructional resources, library stock, and teaching/learning equipment ⁵.

Student satisfaction in the Spanish university system is greatly impacted by the faculty, the way courses are taught, and course administration ⁶. University reputation also has an impact ⁷. There are two ways that the perception of the university might affect student satisfaction: directly and indirectly ^{3, 8}. In the Norwegian university system, student happiness is strongly influenced by the institution's reputation, the appeal of the host city, and the caliber of the facilities ⁹.

¹⁰ provided an Armenian framework for the explanation of student happiness. The study discovered that program curriculum and faculty services were important factors in determining student satisfaction. Interestingly, the study also found that graduate teaching assistants and faculty teaching methods had a detrimental impact on student satisfaction. Despite the significance of SS, student strikes have been a recurring issue in Ugandan institutions, which may be a sign of discontent within the student body ¹¹.

Student satisfaction (SS) is fundamental for the survival of any university because it may enhance student loyalty ²; the recruitment of students ¹²; student performance ¹³; and completion rates ¹⁴. SS enhances the university's reputation even further, providing it a competitive edge ¹⁵ increasing its financial success as a result ^{13, 14}. Despite the significance of SS, student strikes have been a recurring issue in Ugandan colleges, which may be a sign of discontent among the student body. ¹¹. According to the 2023 IUIU-KC quality assurance report, many students feel unsatisfied. There may be a drop in student retention, recruitment, performance, and completion rates if the problem of student unhappiness in institutions continues. The issue tarnishes the university's reputation, which impacts its competitive edge and, ultimately, lowers profitability. Thus, it was essential to investigate how staff attitudes affected students' satisfaction at the Kampala campus of the Islamic University of Uganda.

i. To examine the effect of academic staff attitude on students’ satisfaction at Islamic university in Uganda, Kampala Campus.

ii. To examine the effect of non-academic staff attitude on students’ satisfaction at Islamic university in Uganda, Kampala Campus.

The conceptual framework indicates that the independent variable is the attitude of staff at IUIU, which is characterized by the attitude of non-academic staff and the attitude of academic staff. The dependent variable is student’s satisfaction, composed of satisfaction with the quality of instructional practices, learning gains, and administrative service quality. The framework assumes that once there is a positive attitude among staff at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala campus, students’ satisfaction is expected to improve and vice versa, holding other ceteris paribus.

2. Review of Literature

The characteristics of university faculty that were evaluated were their cooperation, fairness, cooperation, responsiveness, accuracy, cooperation, cooperation, and fairness toward students when they were enrolled in classes. Student satisfaction in higher education is significantly influenced by the cooperation, compassion, and responsiveness of administrative, academic, and non-academic staff, according to ¹⁶. Furthermore, ¹⁷ found that the quality of instruction, clarity, and unbiased treatment provided by non-academic staff all have a significant and beneficial impact on students' overall happiness at higher education institutions.

¹⁸ and ¹⁹ corroborate that student services including support and administrative services affect student satisfaction positively. ²⁰ confirm that administrative services largely affect the extent of students’ satisfaction in advanced educational institutions. This demonstrates that administrative service might influence satisfaction.

²¹ investigated how students' satisfaction in the Spanish university system was affected by their degree program. The findings showed that course administration, teaching personnel, and instructional strategies all significantly affect how satisfied students are with the Spanish University System.

²² determined that the main factors influencing student satisfaction at regional state institutions were curriculum, empathy, and reliability. The results further highlighted the fact that, in addition to tangibility, competency, and delivery, regional university administrators ought to pay greater attention to these three aspects.

²³ found 12 fundamental factors in Malaysian higher education settings that have a substantial impact on students' satisfaction. The following factors, therefore, have a significant impact on students' satisfaction: a professional and comfortable environment; student assessment and learning experiences; classroom environment; lecture and tutorial facilitating goods; textbooks and tuition fees; student support facilities; business procedures; relationships with the teaching staff; faculty who are knowledgeable and responsive; staff helpfulness; feedback; and class sizes.

²⁴ investigated how certain variables affected Armenian students' satisfaction. Reasonable curricula and faculty services were found to be important factors in determining student happiness in light of the study. The study also discovered a negative correlation between graduate teaching assistants' and faculty members' methods of instruction and students' satisfaction. ²³ found academic aspect, non-academic aspect, and access, reputation, and program issues as greater influencing factors of students’ satisfaction.

3. Methodology

This study used a quantitative methodology in conjunction with a causal-comparative research design. A causal-comparative research design is concerned with establishing a cause-effect relationship among variables. It enables in determining the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable as used in the study ²⁵. Thus, this design was vital in examining the effect of staff attitude on students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus. Additionally, a quantitative approach was used to generate data in numerical form. The study used a sample size of 315 students who were selected using simple random sampling.

Linear regression analysis was employed to examine the effect of the independent variable and its constructs on the dependent variable so as to provide answers to the study hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. According to ²⁶ linear regression analysis is significant in assessing the strength of the association between the dependent variable and independent variable. The linear regression analysis involved the use of a simple linear regression model consisting of the outcome and predictor variables at a 95% confidence interval.

4. Results

To establish whether academic staff attitude has a statistically significant effect on students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus, the researcher conducted a simple linear regression analysis and the results are presented in Table 1;

The regression findings in Table 1 indicate a moderate positive and significant effect of academic staff attitude on students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus (β=0.477, P-value<0.05). The regression findings indicate that a unit improvement in academic staff attitude results into an increase in students’ satisfaction by 47.7%. The results may imply that as academic staff attitude improves, it results into an improvement in students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus.

The model summary results indicate that the coefficient of determination (Adjusted R-square) was 0.224, which indicates that academic staff attitude explains 22.4% of the total variations in students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus and the remaining 77.6% of the variations are explained by other factors. This implies that academic staff attitude moderately but significantly affects students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus. The findings imply that an improvement in academic staff attitude moderately but significantly improves students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus. The findings conform to those of ²³ who found out that academic staff attitude had a positive and significant influence on students’ satisfaction in Malaysian higher education settings.

To establish whether non-academic staff attitude has a statistically significant effect on students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus, the researcher conducted a simple linear regression analysis and the results are presented in Table 2.

The regression findings in Table 2 indicate a weak positive and significant effect of non-academic staff attitude on students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus (β=0.392, P-value<0.05). The regression findings indicate that a unit improvement in non-academic staff attitude results into an increase in students’ satisfaction by 39.2%. The results may imply that as non-academic staff attitude improves, it results into an improvement in students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus.

The model summary results indicate that the coefficient of determination (Adjusted R-square) was 0.150, which indicates that non-academic staff attitude explains 15.0% of the total variations in students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus and the remaining 85.0% of the variations are explained by other factors. This implies that non-academic staff attitude slightly but significantly affects students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus. The findings conform to those of ²⁷ who found out that non-academic staff attitudes and impartial treatments positively and significantly affect the students’ overall satisfaction in institutions of higher learning.

5. Conclusion and Recommendation

The study findings indicated that academic staff attitude has a moderate positive and significant effect on students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus (β=0.477, P-value=0.000) at a 0.05 level of significance. It was also found out that effective and efficient attitudes were exhibited and demonstrated by several academic staff members at the university campus despite some shortfalls reported. Therefore, it can be concluded that academic staff attitude plays a fundamental and significant role in improving students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus.

The study findings indicated that non-academic staff attitude has a weak positive and significant effect on students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus (β=0.392, P-value=0.000) at a 0.05 level of significance. It was also found out that effective and efficient attitudes were exhibited and demonstrated by a number of non-academic staff members at the university campus despite some deficits reported. Therefore, it can be concluded that non-academic staff attitude plays a fundamental and significant role in improving students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus.

The study recommends that the administrators and management at the university should embrace various techniques and conduct different trainings through workshops and regular meetings with the academic staff to ensure that their performance and attitudes towards students improve which may influence the level of students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus.

The study recommends that the university administrators and management should embrace various strategies aimed at enhancing the motivation levels and social capabilities of the non-academic staff members through mentorship programs and orientation programs to improve their attitudes when performing their duties and associating with students as this may influence the level of students’ satisfaction at Islamic University in Uganda, Kampala Campus.

References